HPO characteristics: Openness and Action Orientation

In addition to having an ‘Openness and Action Orientation’ culture, an HPO uses the organization’s openness to achieve results. In an HPO, management values the opinion of employees by frequently having dialogues with them and involving them in all important business and organizational processes. HPO management allows experiments and mistakes by permitting employees to take risks, being prepared to take risks themselves, and seeing mistakes as an opportunity to learn. In this respect, management welcomes and stimulates change by continuously striving for renewal, developing dynamic managerial capabilities to enhance flexibility, and being personally involved in change activities. People at an HPO spend a lot of time on dialogue, knowledge exchange and learning in order to obtain new ideas to improve their work and make the complete organization performance-driven.

HPO characteristics: Openness and Action Orientation

The management of our organization frequently engages in a dialogue with employees.
Organizational members spend much time on communication, knowledge exchange and learning.
Organizational members are always involved in important processes.
The management of our organization allows making mistakes.
The management of our organization welcomes change.
Our organization is performance driven.

An HPO uses the organization’s openness to achieve results! And what about your organization? Do you want to create Openness and Action Orientation within your organization? Contact us or read all about our services on this page!

For more information about the HPO Framework, HPO Experts, workshops and our do-it-yourself HPO Insight™ improvement tool, please contact us (schreurs@hpocenter.com or T. +31 (0) 35 – 603 70 07).

“A major road block that we have is the clay layer of change resistant

middle management which prevents messages going down as far as the work floor. The way you break through it, when you are in an HPO transition, is to brutally and rapidly ensure that you have the right leadership team, work through the right strategy to move things forward, and then dialogue, dialogue and dialogue some more: this is where we are, this is where we need to be and this is how we are going to get there. Town halls, newsletters, pod casts, diagonal slices, emails, direct meetings with managers and influencers. The story that everyone understands and their role in it, and what they can expect (rewards, recognition), and then visible everyday leadership from the top – then the ship will begin turning.”

— Huw Owen, former CEO of HP Defense & Security